Puppet Strings
by Goldenbrook15
Summary: Who is the bigger monster, the girl who was forced to become one, or the brother that willingly followed her? All Hei knows is the little girl he once followed down that dark path is not the one that he faces now. She never will be, if he has any say in it.
1. A Fallen Star

**Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black. **

**This is a more recent addition to my 'random story ideas' that I have a chapter or two written for. I know its not in a very popular fandom, but I figured that I would post it anyway. I have the first two chapters written, so please let me know what you think. **

**This first chapter in kind of a set up for the rest. This is a 'what if' Hei was able to start over from the very beginning. **

**Prologue **

_A Fallen Star_

Dying . . . was oddly peaceful.

Hei looked up at the sky through his shattered mask, mind drifting in and out of focus. In the distance he could hear police sirens and crackling fire, but around him it was silent. He was alone.

Really, he was kinda surprised that he'd lasted as long as he had.

The first time he'd faced death, it had peared at him through the face of his beloved younger sister. Terrifying, beautiful, sweet little Xing who, even after becoming a contractor, let him live. That had been the first time, but it certainly hadn't been the last.

Every contracter after that had the same face, the same expression. Death watched him from every corner, both enemy and uncaring allie. The syndicate was its own form of death. They destroyed who he had been, who he was, and reshaped him into the perfect little assassin.

All so that he could protect his sister when she couldn't protect herself.

Death surrounded him on every side. The people he worked with mocked him because he was the only _human_ willing to work among _monsters _and the contractors couldn't care less what happened to him so long as he did his job and didn't mess it up for them.

Facing death every day . . . it breaks something inside of you. Hei knew that, he knew that the contractors around him could kill him at any moment and no one would care. Not even his own sister.

In the face of this realization, Hei decided that if death was looking at him, then he would _look back_.

And so the Black Reaper was created.

Contractors had the face of death, and sometimes Hei wanted to _destroy every single one of them_ for what they had done to him and his family. But he couldn't. Because he was _human_.

The Black Reaper didn't have to be human.

Every time he wore that mask, he let his emotions slip away, his rational mind taking over. In a way, he may as well have been a contractor.

When his targets sought him with the intent to kill, Death looked back at them.

Contractors grew to fear the name of the _Black Reaper_. Human or not, he didn't hold back. With Bai's life on the line, he couldn't afford to.

And then Brazil happened, and Bai vanished.

The next time Hei saw death, it was in his own reflection, looking back at him with electricity sparking around his fingers.

More than half of his life was spent in the Syndicat. The first half of his time there was spent becoming strong enough to protect his sister, the second half was searching for her and _what in the world happened in South America. _

Because Bai was gone and Hei was suddenly a contractor.

Then there was tokyo.

Honestly, everything really started in tokyo. His first long term stay in one country, and he uncovered the truth behind the syndicate, what happened to his sister, and how to stop the devastating explosion that happened in Brazil from happening _again_.

After that, everything was a blur. Running away, hiding, running again. Nowhere was safe. He'd spent more than half of his life taking orders and looking over his shoulder. He didn't know how to be independent of them.

Which is why he was here, actually, bleeding out in a small, dirty alleyway in tokyo and looking up at the clear night sky like it had all of the answers.

It had been a lucky shot, really. The syndicate had been desperate, lately. They didn't care how many people they had to send after him, they just wanted him dead before he tracked _them_ down.

They were right to be afraid.

Hei huffed slightly, not even trying to stifle the bleeding from the hole in his side. One of the contractors today had been a sniper. Usually he didn't have any problems with other contractors, but he hadn't slept in two days. His reactions were sluggish, and no matter how many of them he got rid of they just _kept coming_.

Honestly, it was a little bit of a relief.

_I don't have to run anymore._

And wasn't that a revolutionary thought. He'd been running for so long. From his family, from the government, from _himself_.

_I'm tired. _

Hei smiled.

The police sirens were drifting closer, no doubt tracking the trail of destruction he'd left behind. The last contracter that had attacked him was a few rooftops back. Well, at least half of the rooftop. He vaguely recalled there being some kind of explosion, but he didn't really care.

His hands were too numb to move now, and there were spots around his vision.

Hei blinked slowly, but the spots didn't leave. The stars above him did come into focus for a moment, however, and he let his eyes drift over them for a moment of contemplation.

_I wonder which of those stars is mine? _

For a second, the stars flickered, and Hei felt like he could see _beyond _them, to the stars behind the stars, the original lights in the heavens. Hei let a slight smile twitch at the corner of his lips.

_I wonder . . . ._ Hei thought quietly as he closed his eyes, dizziness and blood-loss finally getting to him. _What would my life be like, if Xing never became a contractor? _

In the sky, a single star flashed across the heavens.

Hei, the feared Shinigami of Death, breathed his last, shuddering breath, and then fell still.

0~o~0

Misaki Kirihara barked out orders as she looked over the scene of devastation laid out before her. There were bodies everywhere, laid among the rubble in twisted imitations of life, faces frozen in fear.

Contractors. Every one of them.

It was a horrifying scene, one that might have made her stomach churn just months ago. Dozens of people dead in a matter of minutes, even if they were contractors. Especially since they were contractors.

Sadly, this scene had become all too common.

Ever since the chaos that had been PANDORA happened, the world had tumbled into chaos. There had been no hiding the existence of contractors after that, nor hiding exactly what PANDORA had planned for them. Contractors had suddenly come out of the woodwork, lashing out at anyone and everything. Many of them fled the country at the first opportunity. Others stayed, becoming more aggressive and bold in their actions as the public slowly turned away from PANDORA.

Even then, mass scenes like this, could only be caused by one man.

BK-201.

Misaki sighed and turned toward one of the officers jogging toward her. "Any sign of _him?_"

Kono, the officer, shook his head. "Sorry chief. Several of the buildings around here collapsed, and we are having a difficult time digging through the rubble to search. It's possible that one of the contractors had an earthquake power of some sort. We haven't found anyone of his appearance yet.

Misaki frowned and looked back over the chaos again, eyes sad. "I see. Please keep looking. We need to get this cleaned up before any news crews get here."

Kono nodded and hurried off. Misaki tilted her head back and glanced up at the sky. Just a few hours ago, she'd watched a new rain of stars fall from the sky, almost a dozen on them, and knew exactly what it meant. Honestly, she didn't know whether to be relieved or irritated at not finding _him_ with the rest.

The illusive BK-201, a contractor with more mystery surrounding his existence than anyone Misaki had ever known. The man she had come to know as Li.

Her phone rang suddenly and Misaki scowled slightly as she flipped it open and placed it against her ear, eyes still on the stars, specifically one star. She'd memorized its position after bugging her friend Otsuka to show her which one it was. So long as his star stayed up there, she had a hope of finding him again.

Finding him and asking him _why._

"Kirihara here," Misaki said briskly, still looking up at the sky.

"Misaki . . ." the voice on the other end was familiar, one that Misaki knew almost as well as her own, except now it was trembling.

Otsuka took in a deep breath to steady herself, her breath crackling over the line. "I know . . . I know how important this is to you so I . . . I had to call. Misaki . . . BK-201's star it's . . . it's about to-"

The phone fell from slack fingers. Misaki's eyes were wide as she stared up at the sky.

And the single star that burned brightly one last time before shooting off toward the west and fading away.

BK-201 was dead.

0~o~0

Dying had been like falling asleep.

Being dead felt a lot like waking up to someone jumping on his bed.

Hei blinked his eyes sluggishly, his body feeling strangely unresponsive and heavy. He stared upward, at the white ceiling stretching over his head before something blocked his vision.

"Finally! You sleepy head! You're supposed to be up before I am!" Bai grinned at him with chubby, childlike cheeps, her eyes sparkling innocently.

No, not Bai.

Xing.

Hei shot up in bed, staring at her.

_What in the world is going on?_

**0~o~0**

**Well, here you go. What do you all think? I already had this and most of the first chapter written, so I figured I would post it. Check out my profile to vote on which other stories I update/publish next. **

**(Updated 8/27/2019)**


	2. Walking Dreams

**Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black. I make no money off of this, and I do this for fun. Please let me know what you think!**

**Chapter 1**

_Walking Dream_

It . . . was like a dream.

Hei couldn't help but wander through it in a slight daze. It was like he was _there_ but at the same time . . . _not. _He felt as if he were watching someone else's life as it played out, a forgotten dream that he had long ago tried to bury under his regret and sadness.

And then there was Xing. Little Xing, so innocent and kind, smiling up at him as if he held the world in his hands.

He . . . could remember the last time he saw her smile like that. It had been _that _night. That _horrible,_ _terrifying _night when she'd turned to him with that smile in the middle of the star lit lake and then . . .

"Tian, are you okay?" she was looking up at him with wide, worried eyes as she gripped his bedsheets, biting the edge of her lip.

Hei blinked slowly down at her and then wet his lips, finding them surprisingly smooth as he swallowed back the hoarseness in his voice.

"Xing?" he questioned haltingly, lifting his hand slightly only to halt and let it drop back down on the bed sheet, dark eyes wide.

"Tian?" she tilted her head, and Hei felt his heart sink even as his eyes flickered around the room.

Tian. Tian. _Tian. _

He hadn't been Tian for . . . a _very long time. _

And Xing . . . when he looked at her . . .

All he could see was Bai.

"_I made the stars fall, Hei. Did you see? Lots and lots of stars . . ."_

Hei rolled over to the side of the bed and threw up, cold, _cold _fear gripping his heart as he stared at the face of a murderer.

0~o~0

Xing may be young, but she wasn't stupid.

She didn't know exactly when it started, but her brother had started acting _odd_. There wasn't any specific instance she could point out as the beginning, but rather several small things that were just slowly starting to add up.

Her big brother Tian had always cared for her, even more than their parents did. Mother and Father were always busy with work, and Tian was the one that made sure that Xing ate and went to bed on time. He always made sure that he had time to help her with her homework and take her out to see the stars when she was stressed.

No, none of this was new. He'd always been like that. It was the little extra things that Xing had started to notice.

Like how Tian would sometimes just freeze and stare at her blankly like he was seeing someone else in her place.

Or when he would watch her when he didn't think that she noticed.

And then there was the sky. Tian had always loved the sky, and pointing the constellations out to her, but now he seemed almost afraid of it.

She hadn't seen him go out to look at the stars for almost two weeks.

At first, he had seemed confused, making odd comments like, "I missed this," or "You sure were small back then, huh Bai?" only to grow distant when she questioned what he meant. As time went on he became more withdrawn, asking less questions and often spending hours just sitting and staring into space.

It was for these reasons that Xing decided that the only way to get her brother back to normal was to make him do something that he used to enjoy. Stargazing up at the pond up the mountains.

Except, when she asked . . .

Tian froze up.

His eyes were so dead inside as he stared at her, but there was something lurking being the dark orbs. Something . . . _dangerous._

"_I . . . maybe not today, Xing."_

In all honesty, it scared her. _He _scared her. It was like Tian was . . . gone. Like he had been replaced with a stranger and she hadn't noticed.

That night, he didn't take his dark eyes off of her, his fingers twitching around the glass of water that he held in his hands for hours.

She stayed up all night with him, somehow knowing that falling asleep wouldn't be a good thing.

The next morning their parents came home and found their two children curled up on the couch. Both were silent. Both were awake.

Neither parent felt the oppressive atmosphere in the air as they ushered their kids to bed.

Tian very pointedly didn't look her way as he slipped into his own room and shut the door.

Xing suddenly felt very, _very_ cold.

0~o~0

At first, Hei had thought that he must be trapped within his own mind, living out the years before _it_ happened as a form of self torture for his falure to protect them. But even that wouldn't explain how perfectly _perfect_ everything was. Down to Bai's flowing hair and his parents laughing faces as they wandered off to work.

(There were small lines around their eyes, imprints of a happy life full of laughter and hope. How long ago had he forgotten what they looked like?)

As time went on, however, Hei had started to realize that there was no way that this was a simple dream. It really felt like he was _there_, in some kind of feaverish, distant way.

And every time he looked at little Xing he couldn't help but feel his hands twitch in her direction, to wrap his hands around her tiny neck and stop the monster before it came out and _killed them all_.

But every time he forced himself to stop, because that wasn't _Bai_ he was staring at. It was _Xing._

And no matter how many times he tried to convince himself of that fact, all it took was looking in a mirror to see the truth.

Bai hadn't been the only murderer.

He'd always been a bigger monster than she ever was.

0~o~0

Xing found him standing alone out in the field, fingering a set of knives that she knew had gone missing from the kitchen a few weeks back. She froze, staring out at his motionless dark form. A second later she'd ducked down into the tall grass, feeling it sway slightly around her in the wind.

She didn't really know why she did it but . . . for some reason, she _really _didn't want Tian to see her watching him.

Because it wasn't really _Tian _that looked back at her from those eyes. Not any more. She didn't know how she knew she just . . . _did. _Their parents weren't around to notice, they were often out working so often that they had little time for their children now that they were old enough to take care of themselves for the most part.

And even though Xing _could_ tell them . . . she knew that she _wouldn't_.

Because even if this stranger standing before her wasn't _Tian,_ there was something about him that _fascinated _her.

_Who are you, really?_

Not Tian. Not her brother. But . . . not really a stranger, either.

In the weeks that she'd been observing him, acting on some inner instinct that told her that he was _dangerous,_ she'd come to understand him better than she'd understood Tian. Tian had always been her older brother, protective and _safe_. The boy before her . . . he was strong but _unstable. _She knew not to make any sudden moves toward him, or he would flinch and reach toward his back. She also knew that she shouldn't fall asleep with him near. She'd seen it in his eyes, every time she got ready for bed.

_Like if she fell asleep, she might never wake up again. _

She knew that he preferred to cook his own meals, and that he ate a _lot, _though that came from watching him scarf down several servings of fried rice in a single setting.

She also knew that he hated the stars.

Tian had loved the stars, going so far as to say that he wanted to one day go into space and visit them in person. He'd always shared that enthusiasm with Xing. But this boy . . . every time he looked at the night sky, she saw him flinch, as if he were looking at an inevitable monster.

They were small things, little things that she would have never noticed if it weren't for the fact that she was watching for them now. This boy, this familiar stranger in her brothers body, was someone only she knew existed. And maybe . . . maybe she didn't want to tell her parents yet, because she wasn't ready to give him up yet.

In front of her, the mysterious boy tilted his head back and closed his eyes, letting the light of the moon bath his pale face. For a second everything was still, and then he began to move. With a dagger in each hand, he flowed from one form to the next without pause. A flick here, a flash of metal there, crouch, a spin, a flash of dark eyes . . .

Xing felt the breath left her. It was like watching a dragon dance. No, it _was _a dragon dancing.

She could see it now, its giant form curling around him, scales flashing and serpentine body flowing through the air on invisible wings. As he spun, it was the face of the dragon that looked back at her through the underbrush. A dragon had fallen from the heavens, dancing sorrowfully through the empty field as it mourned what it had lost. Its glowing form curled around the boy in elegant curves and swoops, ghosting through the air in a silent dance of wind and spirit. Glowing blue flames lit up its form in a ghostly glow that reflected itself in the boys eyes.

For a second, the two hovered in perfect harmony in the air, and then she blinked at it was gone. But Xing knew what she had seen, and it was only the hand that she'd pressed her mouth that muffled her stunned gasp.

The Heavenly Dragon.

_Tianlong. _

In the distance, dark clouds gathered on the horizon, rumbling ominously.

0~o~0

When he first woke up, Hei had been confused and still reeling from his death.

Several weeks later, he still didn't understand what had happened to him. There was still the possibility that another contractor had trapped him in a false reality but . . . Hei knew that it was highly unlikely. It would have already worn off if that were the case.

But if it wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a contractor then . . .

_What happened?_

There was no way that everything he'd experienced had all been some hallucination. He was _Hei,_ that was who he'd been forced to become, and there was no bringing back the Tian that he'd once been. He'd died at twenty-two, and woken back up again at eight, though.

Of course he'd considered Amber, but Amber was _gone._ She'd sacrificed herself to save all contractors from being erased from existence. Her power had long since faded, but if it wasn't _her _power then . . . _what had happened to him?_

Had it even been real in the first place? Or had everything that he'd gone through been some twisted dream?

There was, of course, a way to test this. Hei stared down at his own hands. All it would take was to reach down inside of him, deep into that core of _power_ that bubbled and boiled inside of him, tucked away under the tattered folds of _humanity _that he pulled over the dark traces of _other_ . . .

Just a few sparks. That's all he would need to know that everything he'd been through was _real_, that everything he'd gone through wasn't for naught.

But . . . what if it _was there?_

Hei had long ago lost the ability to _feel _like a normal human could. He'd spent too much time around contractors. But this small thought somehow managed to break through his walls and freeze his heart with fear.

If it had been a dream, something that he'd made up and never actually gone through, that meant that he didn't have to worry about Xing turning into the monster that he could see outlined in her face every day. That blank monster from his memories that stared at him as if he were some unimportant stranger. He . . . he didn't know if he could go through that again. He didn't know if he could . . . if he could see her turn into _that_ again.

But if it hadn't happened . . . if it _wouldn't _happen . . .

_We could be a family again . . . _

Hei stared at his small, uncalloused hands, watching them tremble. All it would take was a moment. A moment to reach inward and grasp at the power that Bai had cursed him with. A single moment . . .

His fingers twitched. Wind brushed silently through his hair.

The moment passed.

Hei clenched his eyes shut and turned away, instead grabbing a small knife from the sheith he'd made for it under his shirt and pulling it out. Falling into a careful stance he began to weave through the air, fighting invisible foes.

One day, he would check. One day, he would call up that power again. One day, he would _know._

But that day wasn't today.

Today, he breathed, and simply let himself _forget. _

0~o~0

"What are you doing, Xing?"

Xing jumped slightly and quickly shut the book that she had been looking through as she turned around, a slightly sheepish smile on her eight year old face. Tian was standing behind her, hands tucked into his pockets as he looked down at the book was she carefully trying to shuffle out of sight without being too obvious. She wasn't very successful.

"Um, just looking up something I thought might be interesting," Xing shifted so that she was laying over top of the book and tilted her head up at the boy behind her.

Tian lifted one brow, and there was a spark of curiosity in his dark, emotionless eyes. He tilted his head slightly, "You're interested in dragons?"

Xing may or may not have squeeked.

"Oh, um, you saw? Yeah, I, yeah . . ." her cheeks reddened and she sat up, pulling the book up with her so that it was cradled against her chest. Her eyes darted around the livingroom nervously. "Its . . . its not really important, but, well, yeah . . ."

Tian snorted and nudged her to scoot over so that he could settle on the couch next to her. With gentle hands he skilfully slipped the book from her stunned fingers and flipped it open to the bookmarked page. Her cheeks darkened as she sputtered.

"H-hey!" she reached for the book only for him to lift it above his head, still open. "No fair, Tian! I had it first!" she whined, only for her eyes to widen and her hands to clap over her mouth.

Tian huffed and tilted his head back, a small, almost unnoticeable smirk tugging at the edge of his lips. Xing froze as she saw it, her eyes widening even further. That smirk had been all _Tian_, and Xing couldn't help but stare.

"Tian?"

He tilted his head so that his hair drifted across his eyes, shadowing them, but the smirk stayed in place, and Xing couldn't help but feel a flash of overwhelming _relief_ sweep through her.

"This book is a bit advanced for you, Xing," he settled the book back on the table as soon as he saw that she was no longer grabbing at it, "I noticed that you were having a little trouble. Here, this character means . . ."

As he began to explain and read over the page she had been struggling through, Xing leaned in, closer than she had dared to since she had _realized_. After a moment of hesitation, she slipped under his arm and settled into his side, staring down at the book are carefully not looking up at him as she felt him jump slightly and pause. For a tense moment there was silence, and then he shifted and Xing felt his left arm wrap protectively around her as he continued.

_He's warm._

Xing felt herself relax, curling further toward him with her cheeks tinted slightly pink. From the corner of her eye she glanced up at him, and for a moment she saw the same _dragon _that she'd seen just a few nights ago overlaying his face, but it was gentle and calm. And then she blinked and it was Tian again.

Xing smiled slightly and turned her attention back to the book about dragon lore.

Maybe . . . maybe her brother Tian wasn't _completely _gone. Maybe he was just different.

Dragons aren't like humans, after all.

And even if he was a dragon, Xing knew she still loved him.

Because Tian was still Tian, even if he wasn't the Tian that she'd once known.

He was still _her _Tian. And that was all she needed.

0~o~0

It was only a year after he'd . . . _arrived, _that Hei looked at the callender and felt his breath catch in his throat.

It . . . was _that day. _The day that he had never, would never, forget.

Somehow . . . somehow he knew that by midnight, everything would change.

He glanced over at Xing, who was carefully coloring a blue dragon with crayon. He didn't really know where her fascination with dragons had come from. He didn't remember her having one in the past, but his memories had always been suspect after dealing with the syndicate. Regardless, she'd quickly become obsessed with knowing everything about them and where they came from.

Hei felt a lump grow in his throat.

If everything happened as it had _then . . . _then that fascination with dragons would disappear with everything else that he'd grown to care about. _Again._

And yet . . . and yet . . .

_If it was going to happen, it would happen tonight, and there is nothing I can do to stop it._

He glanced out the window. There were still a few hours until sundown, and their parents wouldn't be home for several hours. Hei swallowed back the lump in his throat and turned toward his sister, pulling on a shaky smile.

"Hey, Xing," he called out calmly, keeping the tremor in his voice silent, "Do you . . . want to go stargazing with me? To . . . to the lake?"

She froze as he head jerked upward, eyes wide. "Really?"

Hei turned away slightly and glanced to the side, keeping himself from meeting her eyes. "Y-yeah. You know, like . . . like we used to."

There was silence for several moments before she smiled and pulled her stuff together to start cleaning it up. "Sure!" she replied, "Just let me get ready, okay? Do you want to grab your telescope?"

Hei cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah . . . yeah. I'll . . . go do that."

He turned away and closed his eyes. For a second he just stood there, then he pulled in a deep, steadying breath and forced himself to move, stepping out into the hall.

He never noticed the narrowed eyes that his younger sister directed at his back as her smile dropped and she gazed after him, a thoughtful look slipping over her face.

"So," she whispered softly, "Tonight is the night, huh?"

Somehow, her words seemed to hover heavily over the two of them as they left, a silent, unheard promise.

_Tonight._

**0~o~0**

**Thought about continuing it from here** **but then decided not to. This is a good cliff-hanger. Yes, I do have more planned, no I am not going to tell you. I will say that it's going to get very big, very fast. **

**Also, expect the unexpected. **

**Hope you liked the chapter! Please let me know what you think!**

**(Updated: 8/27/2019)**


	3. Bai

**Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black.**

**It's a wonder I can get anything done. I have no motivation. At all. **

**Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! You are all wonderful and I hope that you continue to follow this story to into conclusion, wherever that is. **

**This chapter actually turned out really long, so I split it into two parts. The next chapter should be out next week. I hope you all enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

_Bai_

Xing let her eyes drift sideways as they walked up the winding path behind the small house that they owned. Their home was nestled up against the mountain, so it was easy to slip out and into the woods when they wanted to. Tian's favorite place had always been the lake near the top of the mountain, where the trees were clear enough to look up at the sky unhindered.

Next to her Tian walked at a steady pace, and if she hadn't known him as well as she did, she wouldn't have noticed the slight tremble in his arms. His stargazing case was slung over one shoulder, and she was relieved to see that even if she hadn't seen him actually use it for several months now, the entire thing was completely free of dust.

In all honesty, she had been shocked when he'd asked if she wanted to head up to the lake and look at the stars with him. The last time she'd asked . . . well, she'd gotten the clear impression that it _wasn't a good idea_ to bring it up again.

It made her wonder, sometimes, if whatever had changed her brother so drastically, it had happened _there_.

_Tonight._

Tonight, something would happen. She could feel it in her bones, like one could taste the lightning in the air before it struck. If she'd been the same Xing she'd been a year ago, the feeling might have made her excited, waiting impatiently for the future to reveal itself to her.

But she wasn't the Xing from a year ago. She was still excitable, and emotional, and a little reckless, but she was also careful, cautious, and watchful. Especially when it came to Tian. Reading Tian and his moods had become essential, in the beginning. She needed to know when he was twitchy so that she could stay out of the way, when he was feeling insecure so that she could comfort him, and when he just needed time to himself. He'd gotten better as the months went by, once again growing close to her and spending more time with her, but Xing still watched.

Dragons weren't known for their short tempers for nothing, after all.

Even so, Tian was more twitchy tonight than she had seen him in a long time. It was a different kind of twitchy, though. More apprehension then careful calculation.

She'd done her research on dragons, of course, but there was surprisingly little about how they acted when they took _human_ form. She was starting to think that Tian might be the first. She wouldn't be surprised. So, she'd done her own study and come to several conclusions.

One, newly awakened dragons (as she assumed is what happened to her brother earlier that year) weren't very good at mimicking human emotions yet. Tian had a hard time at first. Sure, he'd tried, and it might have worked on her parents, but Xing had known that those bright smiles were only half as bright as they were supposed to be. More often than not, he would slip into a blank mask of indifference as he examined everything around him with calculating eyes. Sometimes he would get stuck like that, at first, like he didn't know how to be _Tian _anymore.

Two, they had a hard time connecting back to the real world when they 'awoke'. Tian had spent several months in a daze before he started to really pay attention to her in more than a _potential threat / prey_ way. At least, that's what she thought all of the twitching fingers and dark looks had been about.

Third, dragons needed claws. More than a few knives had gone missing over the last few months, and Xing wasn't dumb enough to think that the ever so slight lumps under his shirts and pants were bunched cloth. She hadn't asked, of course, but she assumed that being trapped in a human form might have made him feel vulnerable without the natural weapons that nature would have given him as a Heavenly Dragon.

Fourth, if all else fails, use logic. More than once she'd found Tian in a snarly mood where he almost seemed to be feeling restricted in his own skin. This, more often than not, lead to twitchy moods in which he went back to watching all of them like prey. Thankfully, if she was able to catch him in that mood, she'd be able to talk through the situation and explain, logically, why something or another wasn't a _problem. _Yet. Sometimes she couldn't. When that happened, it was time to just get out of the way and let him do his thing.

Which led to the fifth point. When a dragon sets their mind on something, there is no stopping them. When Tian said something in his 'don't argue' voice, she did it without question. Sometimes it was small things, like little habits she didn't know she had that seemed to irritate him. Other times it was something more serious, like the time when he was walking her back from school and had taken one look at an alleyway only to turn her right around and marched her back to school with an explanation that he'd forgotten something.

Later that day, there was a kidnapping report that went out. The kid that disappeared was a few years above them, but Xing _knew _that they must have passed through the same alley that Tian had pulled her away from. It was scary how accurate his intuition was.

Lastly, she was pretty sure that he could catch glimpses of the future. Now, she had no idea if this extended to other dragons turned human or not, but she'd often caught him writing down strange dates, places, and people that she had never heard of, with short, cryptic notes next to them. This was, as of yet, unproven.

It was this last one, however, that had her so worried. She'd gotten a peek at his latest list just a few weeks ago, and the date written on it had been _today._

It was the first date she'd seen that was so close.

And right next to it, was a single word that sent chills down her spine.

_Bai. _

Who, or _what, _Bai was, she didn't know. She'd tried looking it up before, but had only come up with a panda spirit named Hei Bai, meaning black and white.

It was the name that Tian had called _her_ when he first 'woke up' almost a year ago. She wasn't sure he'd realized. He'd tripped over the name several times before finally settling back on Xing.

In a way, she was both dreading and looking forward to finding out what _Bai _meant.

Sometimes, she wondered if it was actually _Xing _he had been talking about when he wrote the name.

Regardless of her fears, however, Xing _knew_ that tonight was important. Probably the most important moment since Tian first awoke.

After all, dragons appeared in the world _for a purpose_. They often brought warnings, shared signs, and foretold wars.

Somehow, Xing knew that the reason that Tian was here, now, was because that thing that he'd been brought to the world for was starting _tonight. _

Xing felt a shiver of fear and excitement shoot down her spine as she stepped out of the trees into the moonlight that illuminated the lake.

Tonight, she was going to witness history.

0~o~0

Hei watched as Xing rolled up the bottom on her pants and waded into the water, as she always did when they came here. He felt a twinge of sadness that he hadn't let her enjoy these moments of happiness since he'd . . . come back. He just hadn't been able to face this lake. He still didn't think he could. Just watching her splash in the water and tip her head toward the sky sent shivers of deja vu down his spin.

_It's just like _that _night. _

The sky was clear and unhindered by clouds. The wind was perfectly calm, only gently swaying the tops of the trees, though Hei knew that it would pick up later. Xing laughed as a frog jumped out of the water next to her and went to chase it. He tried to ignore the fear building up in him as he started to set up his telescope.

For the past year, every time he'd glanced at the sky, it had felt so _wrong._

Because the stars up there were the _real _stars.

And his star might already be among them.

But this was the last moment of happiness that Xing might have, and he wasn't about to worry her with his fear. She was much more perceptive than he remembered, really. There were times that he felt like he just _couldn't go on_ and she'd be right there beside him, supporting him.

He . . . honestly didn't know what he was going to do when she disappeared.

_Tian_ had been someone who he'd lost, a long time ago, but Xing was slowly bringing him back, one fragmented emotion at a time.

Hei checked the time frequently as the sky grew darker until the only light was the moon and the stars. As time passed Xing slowly grew quiet and looked up at the sky. He glanced up with her, just in time to catch a glimpse of a shooting star dart across the sky. His throat spasmed and he felt tears prickle at the corners of his eyes.

"Hey, Tian," Xing asked innocently, looking up at the sky, "What does a shooting star mean, again?"

_It's beginning._

Hei swallowed thickly and opened his mouth to answer, _If you make a wish on a star, it will come true, _but the words failed him.

Instead, what he said came out in a quiet rasp, "They say that when a star falls, a soul passes on from this world."

Xing fell still, and then turned her attention to him with wide eyes. "Tian?"

He didn't look in her direction, keeping his gaze fixed on the sky.

Slowly, one by one, the stars seemed to shiver in place, as if afraid, and then streak across the sky in a pillar of white light. Soon, the sky was filled with streams of light as the stars descended from the sky. It went on for what felt like forever. Hei didn't dare look at Xing, not yet. He didn't want to see the little girl he'd come to know in the last few weeks fade back into Bai. Bai, who was a stranger and didn't know him yet. Bai, who could kill him with a simple flick of her hand and feel no remorse at all.

"_Tian . . ." her voice trailed off and Tian looked up from where he had pulled up a strand of grass at the dull tone in her voice. A feeling of unease swept through him suddenly._

"_Xing?" Tian responded, and pushed himself up, "What's wrong?"_

_She didn't answer. Above them, the stars started shivering, like a thousand tiny marbles in an earthquake. Her upheld arms quivered in place, and then dropped to her sides like they had turned to stone. The air suddenly felt cold. Too cold. _

"_Xing?"_

_She shifted, the water around her legs rippling silently as she slowly turned to face him. Tian darted forward as she swayed, his eyes full of fear. Halfway across the lake, Xing finally lifted her shadowed face, and Tian froze in place. _

_Blank brown eyes stared back at him, without emotion, without a care, without life. Dead eyes. _

"_Tian."_

_He caught her as she fell, but somewhere deep inside, horror welled up. _

_Because the girl in his arms, no matter how much she looked like her, wasn't Xing. _

_She was . . . _

Hei felt two gentle hands settle on his shoulders and a little head rest against his chest as the stars faded from view for the last time and the world slowly came back to him in bits and pieces.

"And remember that time when I came here all alone and you had to go searching for me because mom and dad couldn't find me? They were so mad, but you weren't. You knew right where I had gone and why I ran-"

Hei swallowed thickly, and slowly curled his arms around the girl cradled against him, slowly working the dryness out of his throat as he interrupted her, "Xing?"

The girl paused and then cuddled closer, as if she could sense that it was what Hei needed right now. Her silent comfort did more to ground him in the moment than anything else would have.

Because Bai had been _so cold_ when he'd caught her that night, oh so long ago. As cold as death.

But the little girl curled up in his arms right now . . . she was _warm. _

"Tian? Are you back with me, now?"

"Xing?" he tightened his grip around her back, forcing back his tears. "Are you still . . . you're still Xing?"

She also tightened her hug in response, pulling her arms behind his head, "Of course I am silly." She pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes, and for the first time that night he looked at her face and didn't see a trace of Bai, "I am your little sister, and I am not leaving."

The tears came before he could hold them back, because the stars had still fallen and Xing wasn't Bai.

He didn't know what had changed, but something obviously had.

Xing didn't let him go. They fell asleep under the starless sky.

Unseen by both of them, a single star remained unfallen, watching over them from the empty sky above them.

0~o~0

That next night, Hei stepped outside under the cover of darkness, and for the first time since returning, reached out for Bai's power.

It only took a second to find it, like a second pulse underneath his own. He tugged at it gently and watched as a pale blue glow surrounded him for a moment, lightning crackling around him before once again vanishing beneath his skin.

Hei sat down heavily against a wooden chair that had been left outside, his legs going numb suddenly as he felt realization going through him.

He was still a contractor. Whatever had happened last time had happened again, but _something_ had to have been different.

Because if everything had been the same, Xing would have become Bai, and the power currently coursing through him would have been _hers. _

_What . . . what _changed?

From the window above him, a small head peeked through the curtain with wide eyes as Hei watched the last of the dancing sparks of electricity fade away. He never noticed.

0~o~0

_Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, _

_Fallen from the sky above,_

_We watched you shine,_

_We watched you burn,_

_And as we watch, you now return. _

0~o~0

Across the world, the story was exactly the same.

The stars had fallen from the sky like meteorites. Scientists, doctors, and politicians all worked hard to explain the situation in their own ways, trying to prevent panic, but no matter what they said, nothing could change the facts.

The stars were gone, and the moon had vanished, leaving a blank canvas of darkness that stretched across the sky. All space stations beyond the atmosphere lost contact, and no telescope could pierce the veil. How and why it happened were a mystery.

And then there were the Gates.

Of course, they wouldn't be called that for many more weeks, but the sudden 'dead zones' that appeared on opposite sides of the earth like some twisted form of the north and south pole left many in panic as they tried to contact loved ones, friends, and family that suddenly were just _gone._

Through it all, the people who suddenly just . . . _went blank,_ as was described by the people who knew them, was left unnoticed.

In the blank sky, a single star shimmered quietly, and would not be found until a few days after the incident. It was the first star to be recorded in the new sky.

And so the world continued to turn, as new stars began appearing, one after another, filling the sky with their false light.

And with the stars . . . came the Contractors.

0~o~0

"Tian! Xing!" Hei felt his mother's arms wrap around him as he and Xing trudged back through the door. He felt . . . almost _numb._ "We are so glad that you are safe!"

The elder Li parents weren't often home this early, and Hei knew they were scheduled for a business trip for the next three days and should have been getting on a plane at the moment.

"Mom, Dad?" Xing squirmed in the tight grip of her mother's arms and where she was squashed against her older brother, "What's wrong? Why are you here? Isn't your plane supposed to be leaving soon?"

Their father shook his head, hands trembling as he kneeled next to the sunken form of his wife and engulfed them all in his own hug. Hei could tell that he was holding back tears by the shimmer in his eyes, but couldn't bring himself to say anything.

The empty, _numb _feeling persisted. He just . . . didn't feel _anything. _He couldn't even muster up enough strength to try and smile.

"We cancelled our trip as soon as we heard the news," their father said quietly, his gentle hold tightening slightly.

"News?" Xing piped up with a frown, "What news?"

His hold tightened even further, and Hei could feel the slight tremble that ran through them from where they crossed over his back.

"When the stars vanished, people started . . . acting odd," their mother spoke softly. "Do you remember the family down the road? The one in the red house?"

Xing nodded, but Hei only felt the dread in his stomach bubble to the surface.

"They were found dead. Their daughter is still missing. The culprit is still on the loose somewhere in the area," Mother swallowed thickly, "They think . . . they think that it was the daughter who did it."

Hei stiffened.

"_I'm home!" Tian called softly as he stepped up to the door. He paused and shuffled his backpack from one shoulder to the other as he reached for his keys. A low creaking sound froze Tian in place, and he glanced up from where he was shifting through his backpack. _

_He'd locked the door when he'd left. He knew he had. _

_He'd made sure to keep anyone from getting to Xing while she was . . . like _that.

_When Tian had brought Xing back from that lake, just a few nights ago, she'd been blank, like a doll. Sure, she walked, and would respond to him, but there had been no emotion. Looking into her eyes was like looking into an abyss and having the abyss _look back_. _

_Tian's hand shook as he reached forward, toward the handle. There was a small flash of light that jumped from the handle to his hand and Tian jerked back with a hiss and then turned wide eyes to the doorway. He swallowed thickly, suddenly registering the _dead silence _that seemed to echo all around him. _

_No birds, no insects, no people. _

_Blue lighting. _

"_Xing?" _

_Trembling, he pushed on the wood of the door and let it creek open on its own. _

_What he saw on the other side . . . Tian clapped his hands over his mouth to keep from throwing up. _

_Both Mother and Father were sprawled out on the floor, looks of disgust and fear spread over their empty faces in equal measure. There was no blood. There didn't need to be. Tian already knew what had happened. _

_The culprit stood above them, a soft blue glow highlighting her young form and her hair almost floating out behind her. Slowly, her head lifted, and black eyes look at him, a red glow emanating from their depths. _

_Tian had explained to his parents that he was worried about Xing over the phone, that she didn't seem to be herself. Still, they weren't supposed to be home from their business trip for a few days. They were supposed to be _safe_. _

_Tian swallowed and forced his emotions down. The hate, the fear, the anger, he bottled it up and locked it away, leaving his own face just as blank of the one his sister wore. _

"_Why?" he asked, and wasn't quite able to keep the shake from his voice. _

_She tilted her head slightly in curiosity, and it was such an _Xing _thing to do that he almost cried, even if he knew that she felt nothing, "Why?" she glanced down, "They said that they were going to send me to a specialist to help with my . . . condition. They were quite forceful, demanding that I come with them even though it would serve no purpose. Tian," The glow slowly intensified as she glanced back up, "Do you think that I am a Monster?"_

_Those words, even given in such an emotionless voice, sent shivers of fear down his spine again and he clenched his fist. The threat went unsaid, but Tian heard it anyway. _

A Monster. _Yes, that is what his sister had become. He'd known it since the night that she'd first looked up at him with those cold_ cold _eyes. He knew it, as he watched her stand over their dead parents and ask him the same question that she'd asked them. _

_Yes. She was a monster. A terrifying, brutal, _heartless _monster. A monster, who had once been his sister. A monster, who he couldn't bring himself to hate, even as he stared down at his parents lifeless forms. _

_Tian . . . couldn't bring himself to answer. _

"_I see," Xing's eyes studied him carefully, "You feel the same way, then." _

_She stepped forward, lifting her arms, and Tian saw the blue glow center around her hands. No matter how much his brain told him to run, however, Tian couldn't. His body refused to move. _

_Run. _Run. RUN.

_Xing faltered, blinking slowly, and let out a soft, "Oh . . ." _

_For several seconds they stood silently, staring at each other, and then her eyes rolled upward and she collapsed forward. Tian just barely managed to catch her, breaking out of his petrified state at the last moment. The blue glow vanished. _

_For a second, everything was calm, and then Tian sobbed once. His mask cracked, trembled, and then _shattered _around him as he pulled his sister closer to him as it hit him. _

_Xing had just killed their parents. _

_Xing had been planning on getting rid of him, too. _

_Xing . . . would be taken away if the government ever found out about her powers. And Tian . . . Tian had loved Xing too much to let that happen to her. He both loathed and loved the girl that he held in his arms. _

_Because even if Xing had changed, even if she had become a monster . . . _

_She was his sister. And now, she was the only thing he had left. _

_That night, their small home went up in flames, taking with it all evidence that any of the Li family had managed to escape. That night, Tian lost a little bit of himself. _

_That night, he finally came to accept it. _

_If Xing was a monster . . . then even if he hated it, even if he wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, he would protect that monster with his life. _

_Because he'd just become a monster, too. _

"Tian? Tian!"

Distantly, Hei realized that someone was calling him. He blinked slowly, staring up at their wooden ceiling from where he was laying on the floor.

Did he . . . collapse?

Slowly, Hei forced himself up from the floor, quietly assuring their parents that everything was fine, he just had a slight headache. And then he turned his eyes to Xing.

Xing, who was not Bai. Who would never be Bai.

And, even if it made him feel guilty, he felt grateful that it wasn't their parents this time.

The world had shifted. Hei was still trying to decide if that was a good thing or not. Nothing was as it had been, that first time.

Somehow, as he looked into Xing's _bright _eyes . . . he felt that this wasn't a bad outcome.

He hesitated for just a moment, before lunging forward and pulling Xing into a hug. Their parents voices faded into the background as she let out a startled squeak and, after a confused moment, she let her own arms wrap around his back.

For the first time in . . . in _years, _Hei felt . . . safe.

He tightened his arms and buried his face in her hair, "Never leave me again, Xing. _Never again."_

He felt her hesitantly pat him on the back, "Okay, Tian."

She huffed out a small laugh and continued innocently, "I won't leave you."

Even as their parents watched with confusion, the two siblings fell asleep curled in the other's embrace, having both exhausted themselves.

0~o~0

Deep within the night sky, a new star flickered once, twice, and then sputtered into existence.

A young blond haired girl jerked awake in her bed and blinked a few times, and then turned her gaze to the sky, tilting her head. Her eyes, once full of warmth, glowed an empty brown.

A new contractor was born.

0~o~0

**I do have next chapter planned out and almost ready to go, but if you have anything that you want to see from this story please let me know! I am hoping to have the next chapter out by this time next week. **

**Have a wonderful day!**

**(Updated: 9/4/2019)**


	4. Dragon's Lair

**Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than BLACK. I do not earn any money from posting this, and I do not give permission for this to be posted to anywhere other than . **

**Sorry for the delay. I got hit by a combination of writer's block for the second half of the chapter and a truckload of ideas for other fandoms. **

**Chapter 3**

_**Dragon's Lair**_

"_They say that when a star falls, a soul passes on from this world." _

Xing had known that there was something important that was going to happen. What, she hadn't been sure, but she knew it would be life changing.

She was both right . . . and very, _very _wrong.

_That _night, the stars fell from the sky, fading from existence as if they had been illusions all along. But Xing hadn't been watching them, no.

She'd been watching _Tianlong._

And when he'd spoken those words, a shiver of _fate _shivered down her spine.

"_When a star falls, a soul passes on from this world."_

"_When a star falls . . ."_

He'd _known._ And, somehow, she knew that the stars falling wasn't the end.

"_A soul passes on from this world . . ."_

_Is that what happened to you? _

Regardless of her own worries, and the terrible _fear _that ran through her as she glanced up at the rapidly emptying sky, Xing focused on the only thing that mattered at the moment. Ignoring the insistent _nudge_ of something trying to get her attention in the back of her mind, Xing ran toward her brother.

He had looked so _broken, _just sitting there, staring up at the sky. Empty pools of darkness reflected the night sky. She could see the stars falling in his eyes.

"Tian! Tian! Come on, Tian, what's wrong?" she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer to her. His skin felt so _cold, _though, like she was trying to hug a block of ice. She was too small to really envelope him in her arms, so she plopped herself in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck as she pushed her face into his chest. "Com'on, Tian. Snap out of it. Please," she pulled closer, "Come back to me."

He suddenly shuddered and a little bit of light returned to his eyes, but he didn't turn his head. She continued to murmur quietly, trying to give him an anchor to _this world_. It seemed to be working, she realized, as she felt his own arms curl around her small form and his horse voice softly call her name.

"Xing?"

_Oh, thank the Heavens. _

"I'm _here_, Tian. I'm _here."_

And she wasn't going to leave. Ever. Dragons needed an anchor, after all. And, not-stranger or not, this was still her _brother. _

_I will never leave you alone again. I promise. _

Warmth bloomed in her chest, and Xing felt something press against her back. She blinked and looked over her shoulder, but saw nothing. She blinked several times, and then turned to gently nudge her brother into standing. He was still in a daze, and she helped him pack up his telescope as they made their way back down the mountain.

A warm breeze brushed by her ear as Xing turned to leave, and she glanced backward toward the lake. Her eyes widened as they rested on a single figure standing alone in the water. The other's back was turned to her, but Xing could tell that it was a young woman, dressed in a skin-tight black suit. The girls hair was pulled up into a spiky ponytail, which swayed slightly as she turned, as if sensing that Xing was watching.

Xing felt the breath leave her lungs as their eyes met.

Because, even if they were dull and empty, Xing _knew _those eyes.

They were the same eyes she saw in the mirror every day.

The figure gave her a gentle smile, one that seemed just as broken as Tian's were, and then glanced behind her, toward her brother. Even though the woman's mouth never moved, Xing heard a soft voice echo through her.

_Thank you. _The figure tilted her head, her eyes growing even more distant. The words, though said without any inflection, were clear. _He needs someone like you. Take care of him for me, please? _She turned her attention back to Xing and her smile was almost sad. _You are the one that he needs, now. _

Xing glanced back at her brother, and then toward the figure, her breath hitching as she realized that the other was already gone. There wasn't even a ripple in the water to mark her presence.

"_When a star falls, a soul passes on from this world."_

Like a ghost.

And suddenly, she knew who the other figure was.

_Bai. _

0~o~0

Xing didn't understand what happened that night. She doubted that she would ever truly understand. But there was one thing that she did know.

Tian was her responsibility, older brother or not, and she _would _keep him safe. Even from himself.

0~o~0

The stars falling changed everything. And nothing.

Xing still had to go to school (although she managed to convince Tian to stay home. He was still quiet and unresponsive at times. Sending him to school would have been a mistake. Their parents agreed after they saw him collapse when they got home.)

She still had homework to do, she still watched over Tian, and she still wrote her observations in her little book. Her day to day life didn't really change all that much.

Overall, though?

The world was on lockdown.

There were whispers about it everywhere. Xing's family were a little old school. They didn't have a TV or a Laptop that she could get on to check the news, so she had to resort to getting as much as she could out of her classmates and the library.

And, from what she learned, something _big _had happened. Bigger than the stars falling, bigger than the moon vanishing.

Even with governments around the world attempting to keep the truth under lock and key, some things still leaked, no matter how hard they tried. Like the fact that, somewhere in Japan, an entire portion of a city had up and vanished. The place was being marked as a 'dead zone'. No one was allowed in or out. No one knew why.

(There were also rumors of a similar occurrence in South America, but Xing had a hard time getting any information on it because the actual Dead Zone there was in the middle of a Jungle and was only found after a pair of hikers were declared missing and the rescue team radioed in about . . . _something _in the jungle before they, too, fell out of contact.)

There were other rumors, too, about people who suddenly went insane. Who killed friends, family members, their own children, before vanishing into the night. Each and every one of them had unique powers.

Xing couldn't help but think back to a few nights ago, when she'd seen her brother _glowing_, and suppressed a shiver as she realized just how bad it could have been for their family if he hadn't been able to suppress his own instincts when he first woke up.

Because, if she was right, _they_ were just like _he_ had been.

And wasn't that a terrifying thought?

There was nothing that Xing could do about that, though. She had her own dragon to micromanage, and unless another one dropped into her lap, she'd already decided that one terrifying dragon was enough.

She should have known better than to tempt fate.

0~o~0

Min Su stared back at Xing with blank, emotionless eyes.

Xing resisted the temptation to groan and thump her head on her desk.

_I already _said _I don't have time to babysit another dragon. _

Min Su. Just last week, she'd been a fairly sociable girl just a few grades above Xing. She wasn't the most popular, but she had been well liked for both her looks and her personality. After the star fall incident, the girl hadn't shown up to school for almost a week, which wasn't surprising because half of the school was gone. A lot of parents were terrified of letting their children out before they knew what was going on with the world.

Typically, Xing would have never been in a position to even meet Min Su.

But the lack of students, and the surprisingly high amount of teachers that failed to show up, meant that a lot of classes were combined together regardless of age.

It was complete coincidence that today was the day that Min Su decided to show up. It was also a coincidence that Min Su and Xing were paired up for a group project. The fact that Xing was probably the only student in the entire class that could recognize what Min Su had become? Maybe not so coincidental.

The cold gaze, the sudden lack of any interest in her friends, and the quiet, calculating way that she watched every movement around her left no doubt in Xing's mind.

_New Dragon. _

"Please tell me that you at least have a knife on you somewhere?"

Min Su's gaze locked onto Xing, and the younger girl winced. The gaze was so sharp it could have cut steel. There was also the way that the other girls fingers had twitched suddenly, as if grasping for something only to halt.

Great. New, unarmed, _irritated_ dragon.

Xing fingered the small pocket watch that she had taken to carrying around. It wasn't much, but it was more than nothing. She glanced over at the teacher, a stressed older lady that was trying to calm down a group of students that had broken out into an argument over in the other side of the room. Good. She was too far away to see.

With a sigh, Xing leaned forward and pressed the small knife's handle into the other girl's hand from under the table, and softly whispered, "Keep that out of sight."

Although Min Su's face didn't even twitch, Xing felt her fingers curl around the knife hesitantly. For a moment there was no other reaction, and then Min Su pulled the knife closer and looked down at it, a slight flash of . . . _something_ flickering over her features before she lifted her head.

"Why?" the words were dull, lifeless. Nothing like the bright and bubbly girl that she had been before.

_She's in even worse condition than Tian was. _

Xing shuffled the papers that they were supposed to be filling out around as she considered her words. Dragons were practical creatures. It was best to be blunt but cautious, especially in a situation like this.

"You are different than you were before, right?" Xing started, watching the other girl carefully. A twinge of fear swept through her as she saw the other girls fingers on her empty hand start to curl inward, _just like claws_. "I know someone like you," she quickly added, and saw Min Su freeze. "I don't know how common your situation is, but it's best to hide it for now."

A slight frown, the most emotion that had decorated Min Su's fact so far, stretched her pale lips downward. "Why?"

Xing was careful to keep her movements slow and within Min Su's line of sight. "In today's world, if anyone finds out about you, and what you can do, they will take you away and hurt you."

At least that is what Xing thought was happening. In each of the incidences that she was researching, if the perpetrator was caught by the government then they simply disappeared. No word to the family, no consolation, just gone. Almost like they had never existed.

Min Su shifted, her grip on the knife tightening. "They won't be able to. I will kill them first."

O-_kay._ Much, _much_ worse than Tian.

It also explained why so many other Dragons had been discovered so quickly. They really had no way of acting normal when they first Awoke, did they? Reasoning. Xing had to push through with reasoning.

Leaning forward, Xing rested her head on her chin. No weapons, no way to strike back. "Okay, say that you do kill whoever finds out about you. What about the next group that comes after you, with bigger weapons?"

The frown deepened. "Then I would kill them as well. And if I couldn't kill them, I would run."

Xing signed. "But by then they would already know who you were. They would have your face, and your power, on record. I know that you see everyone around you as weak, like ants under your shoe. But get enough ants together, and even they can be deadly. Once they know who you are, they can set traps for you."

"Ah," Min Su tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes, "So, I should get rid of you then, since you know what I am."

Ark. Abort. Abort mission.

Xing smiled, slightly shaky. "Do that, and you will bring your enemies right to your door. Even now, they could be watching for anything unusual."

Silence stretched between them for several moments, and then Min Su relaxed back into her chair. "Okay. I won't kill you," she said calmly, and then glanced down at the knife, "Why did you give this to me?"

Xing breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the shadow of death retreat slightly. Dragon's were _terrifying. _"You are a dragon," Xing met Min Su's eyes, "Dragon's need claws, not just fangs. If you need to defend yourself, it's best to use the hidden weapon, rather than the one that will get you noticed. Dragon's need to be able to defend themselves, but using their powers recklessly can get them killed."

Min Su's lips parted slightly, dulled emotions flickering behind glassy eyes, before she closed her mouth again. "I see. I am a dragon."

She carefully tucked the small weapon away into the folds her her clothing as Xing sighed in relief. Good. That's one dragon that should at least survive a little longer without interference. Xing was kind of afraid if she hadn't managed to spot Min Su fast enough, half of their school might have been dead by the end of the day based on the way that she was talking. Really, 'kill anyone that came after you'? There was a reason Tian wasn't -

"I want to meet your dragon."

Xing froze.

_Say what?_

"W-what?" Xing swallowed heavily.

Min Su was back to being a blink slate, hands calmly folded in front of her and giving nothing away.

"You said you knew someone like me," Min Su tilted her head slightly, "I want to meet your dragon."

Oh, how _wonderful. _Two dragons, meeting up. And Tian had no idea that she _knew._

Xing wanted to whimper.

_This isn't going to be good. _

**0~o~0**

**So, life happened. I was supposed to have this finished months ago, but it has just been sitting on my computer half finished instead. I hit writer's block. Writer's block hit back. Still, I hope that you enjoyed it. There is a direction that this is going in, but it may take a while to get there. **

**Please let me know what you thought! Xign met another 'Dragon'! . . . and that Dragon wants to meet Hei. That isn't going to be fun to write . . . **

**Once again, please do not copy this to another site. I almost completely lost motivation to write fanfiction when I heard about other places picking up fanfiction written and published for free and then selling it. Because of the way that the laws are set up, it's the person who wrote it that gets in trouble, not the person who stole it. Don't repost this. Anywhere. And please let me know if you see someone who is reposting it.**

**I hope that you liked the chapter. I don't know when I will have another one out, but I hope that you are all looking forward to it. **

**(Updated: 2/15/2020)**


	5. Claws and Scales

**Disclaimer: I do not own Darker Than Black, nor do I earn any money from posting this. I do not give permission for this to be posed anywhere else. Don't copy to another site. **

**Chapter 5**

_**Claws and Scales**_

0~o~0

"Okay. _Okay," _Xing may or may not have been internally panicking at this point. "Everything is going to be _fine._ I know Tian. I know dragons. As long as nothing goes wrong _nothing will go wrong. _Right?"

Min Su was watching Xing blankly, although there might have been a flicker of _something _behind her eyes. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem," Xing waved her hand over her head, which was currently thumped against the desk. School was over as of a few minutes ago, and she couldn't delay any longer, "It's a human thing. Let me panic in peace."

"Panic?" Min Su's brows furrowed slightly, "What need is there to panic?"

Xing's head popped up and eyed the other dragon balefully and spoke with a dull monotone, "Angry dragons are terrifying. My dragon is terrifying _on a good day._"

Blinking, Min Su tilted her head, "Why would he get angry?"

Xing groaned and just pushed herself out of her desk, standing. "I am more afraid for you if you offend him somehow. He's been around for a while so he has a lot of self control, but I am a little hesitant to bring a possible threat into his territory."

The other girl seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding. "Very well. How do I present myself as . . . _not a threat? _Please explain as we walk."

"Huh," Xing's head spun around as her companion started toward the door, "Uh, right now? Like, _right, _right now?"

"I don't see any point in putting it off," Min Su commented, not even pausing. "Panic is irrational. If he is going to shred me today, he would shred me a week from now. It makes no difference to me."

". . . right," Xing sighed. "Of course you'd think like that."

Curse dragons and their twisting logic. Why did it have to make sense?!

They were silent for the few minutes it took to walk through the empting halls and start down the street. It was about thirty minutes from Xing's home, and she took a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself for having a _talk _with her brother.

"Okay," Xing sighed, "To start off, _do not activate your powers._ For any reason. You are in his territory, his safe place, and unsheathing your claws when you come in peace is a big _no._"

Min Su nodded. "I will not make the first move."

Xing grunted in frustration, "Even if you do not make the first move, he will still likely pull a knife on you. Just . . . be prepared to make yourself _not _react," she blushed, "He probably won't kill you unprovoked. Maybe. Actually, scratch that, it's probably better if I go in before you."

One blond eyebrow lifted, "You would risk putting your back to me?"

Xing shot her own _look _right back, "Between you and my brother? I'm going to be watching _him." _

"Noted," Min Su hummed, "Your brother is very powerful, then?"

A small snort left Xing, "For the first month and a half after he _awoke_ I was half convinced I was going to die in my sleep. He's come a long way being able to fake being human, but he's got a killer's instinct. You don't. Not yet."

". . . I see." Min Su's face was still blank, but there was almost a considering twist to it. "How should I address him when I speak to him?"

"Okay," Xing tugged her backpack closer, "It's probably best to be polite. Start your conversation like this -"

0~o~0

Hei glanced at the clock with a frown. He'd gotten out of school earlier than expected and he'd started making lunch for Xing. Their parents weren't going to be home (they'd called in earlier about a work holdup), but Xing should have been back by now.

"Did she get held after school for something?" he muttered as he turned the rice onto a low heat. "Maybe I should go out and look for her. It's getting a little late."

He left the kitchen and grabbed his coat off of the peg in the front living room closet, slipping into it. It was a near black green, a little like the long coat he'd worn while working for the syndicate but less bulletproof.

It still boggled his mind that Xing was still _Xing. _It honestly felt like his world had flipped on him, sending him spiraling down a path of _what ifs_ that he had never allowed himself to consider before.

Their parents were still alive.

Xing wasn't Bai.

Hei . . . still wasn't quite Tian, but he was trying. Some days made it hard, though.

Just as he was walking toward the entrance to head out there was a soft, hesitant knock and Xing's voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Hey, Tian! I'm home! And I, uh," the door opened and Xing dipped her head around the corner hesitantly as it opened, "I brought a friend home that wants to meet you?"

Hei's mouth twitched into a slight smile as he heard her. There was a divide between the front hallway and the room that he was in, and he called out as he walked toward the opening, "I am glad you are home, Xing. I was getting a little worried when I noticed the time. I was just about to come looking-"

The knife was in his hands before he consciously realized.

"Wait, Tian, this isn't what it looks like!" Xing threw herself between the girl in the doorway and Hei, her eyes wide and she stretched out her arms between the two, as if that would prevent him from getting around her to the _contractor. _

Light brown eyes stared back blankly, flickering between Xing and Hei for a moment before settling on the knife.

"Xing," Hei felt his face slip into its familiar emotionless mask. "Move. Now."

If Xing hadn't been in the way, the contractor would already be dead. He could have done so regardless, but he would rather Xing didn't see that side of him. Not yet.

_Why isn't she moving?_

"_Please, _Tian. Just . . . calm down for a moment and listen, okay? Look, I know what she is and you are and-"

"If I may," a light hand settled on the younger girl's shoulder and both siblings stiffened. Hei felt a spark of his power slip from his control and crackle op the blade, but he ignored it to focus back on the contractor who was _pushing his sister out of the line of fire what - _

"Honored Dragon," the contractor _bowed, _exposing her _neck_ to Hei in submission and leaving her hands stretched out to either side, pointed down, where they couldn't easily grasp a weapon or direct her powers, "I apologize for any conflict that I might have brought this day. I simply wished to meet a Great One such as you, and to beg a request from your person."

Hei felt his mind freeze in confusion, his instinctive lunge hesitating at such an _uncontracter-like_ behavior. Plus, _what had she just called him?_

The contractor's eyes flickered upwards and, seeing that she wasn't in any _immediate _danger of dying, deepened her bow further.

"In accordance with my lowly position, I humbly ask for thy guidance, Honored Dragon, in learning to hide myself among the humans. In exchange," she sucked in a breath, "I offer to guard thy precious sister with my life when you cannot."

"Ah~" Xing groaned dropping her head into her hands, "You were supposed to stick with the scriiiipt~"

Hei didn't even glance at her, his emotions rolling through him like thunder. The contractor, likewise, refused to move from her bow despite how stiff she had become.

_This must go against everything that her logic is telling her, _Hei realized, _She's in enemy territory, with a knife that could end her life within inches of her neck, and she's not moving to defend herself._

Hei hesitated. It wasn't his policy to let a contractor go. They were unpredictable and volatile, but - she said she'd protect his sister?

When given enough motivation, contractors could be unbelievably loyal.

_Xing, what in the world did you tell her?_

Slowly, the sparks faded from his knife and he pulled it back slightly, eyeing the contractor warily. After a moment he sighed. "Please wait in the front room for a few moments. I have something that must be done before we can discuss your . . . _offer," _he paused, "Xing, with me. We need to _talk." _

Xing swallowed heavily, her eyes wide, and nodded swiftly. Her eyes glanced over at the contractor that was _looking back at her_ and gave her a small smile.

The contractor, to Hei's disbelief, _relaxed _slightly and nodded back. "I shall wait for you to be finished, then. Could you please direct me to the room you wish me to wait in?"

Hei looked between the two before backing up and gesturing to his left, where a section of the wall opened up into another room. "It's in here. Make yourself comfortable," he turned to his sister, eyes searching, "Xing, _come._"

Words were becoming harder and harder to articulate. Arg. What was _with this situation?_

As they marched up the stairs, Hei tried to make sense of the situation. Xing wasn't a contractor. Xing had _come home with a contractor._ Xing had _thrown herself between a contractor and him._ Xing had _known - _

Xing was being unusually quiet. And small. Very, very small. Like a mouse that was trying not to be noticed by the large predator laying down next to it. She was curled inward slightly, and her footsteps were light, almost silent but not quite. Hei glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and felt himself flinch.

_I didn't even notice, _he realized. _I knew she was following me, but I didn't _notice.

_Harmless. Harmlessharmlessharmless_. _No threat here. _

_Xing, how long have you known to do that when I am angry?_

Hei paused outside of his room for a moment, and Xing gave him a shaky smile. He stared at her blankly before pushing the door open and entering. The room was almost bare of anything that gave it personality. There was a small cooking magazine in the corner, his phone and lamp on the desk, and a small clock on his bedside table, but that was almost it. The bed was plain black, and his closet contained mostly dark clothing. In all honesty, he hadn't known _what _to do with it when he found himself in the past again.

He'd never stayed in one place long enough to ever need _things._

Pulling the desk chair out, Hei flicked his hand to the bed to indicate where he wanted Xing to sit. The chair he angled to face the bed slightly, but also to give him a good look at the entrance and the window. He sat down silently and folded his hands in front of himself, turning his burrowing gaze to his sister.

"Ok, Xing," he _breathed, "Explain. _What did that girl mean by _Dragon?"_

"Ah~_haha," _Xing puffed out her cheeks slightly and her eyes darted back and forth, avoiding his taller form, "I - there were a lot of clues - little things though so don't worry! - but I - we - she's a - Arg! This is not how I thought I would tell you!"

Hei crossed his arms, quirking one brow. "Tell me what?"

"Tian," Xing groaned, curling into herself and pulling her legs up under her chin, "I know what you are."

Hei felt his heart freeze for the second time that day. "_What?!"_

_She knew he was a contractor? Since when? _How?

"Ah, I'm sorry!" she threw out her arms in front of her, eyes wide, "I saw you sneaking out one night and I saw you in a feild and I saw you dancing with the knife and the sparks and I _knewyouwereaHeavenlyDragon." _

". . . Uh?" Hei blinked slowly and the jumbled words, twitching, "Run that by me again?"

Xing flushed red and poked her fingers together nervously, "I . . . know you're a Heavenly Dragon?"

_Heavenly . . . Dragon?_

"And . . . how did you come to know that?" the words slipped out through his confusion because _what in the world -_

"Here," Xing somehow whipped out a notebook faster than Hei could pull out his knife at the unexpected movement. She froze as she noticed his hand hovering over the knife and didn't move until he relaxed slightly and pulled his hand out of grabbing range.

_When did she get to be so observant? _Hei eyed her warily. _How long has she been like this without me realizing it? She's acting like - _

His mouth thinned.

_She's acting like me around _Bai.

"Okay, so," Xing was speaking again, and Hei snapped back into focus, "I kinda knew that something was different about a year ago? I think? Anyway, I just started watching and I noticed a lot of _little _things. Like the way that you would look at me and Mum and Dad sometimes-"

He flinched. She'd _noticed? _

"-and how you acted when anyone else held a knife near you. There were other things too, but I noted everything down and when I started to do some research, well," her flush deepened, "uh, see for yourself."

The notebook was held out like a peace offering. Hei examined it distantly for a moment and then carefully plucked it from her slightly shaking fingers. It was a nice notebook, probably one of her journals that had been repurposed. The leather cover was well worn, though, and the binding was starting to tear. It was clear that this was used often, treasured. Running his hand over the cover he glanced up at her to see if it was okay to open it and noticed her intense stare.

The moment she met his eyes her ears reddened and she ducked, mumbling a soft, "What are you waiting for? Open it!"

Deft fingers flicked it open and he glanced down at the page, eyes widening. Across the top in tiny but heavily indented writing, it said: _**Dragon's for Dummies**_

He skimmed the first page, which seemed to be a careful description of how to recognize a _dragon _in human skin, what to do if you do encounter them, and how _not_ to get yourself killed offending one.

"_1 - New dragons can't mimic humans very well, so they will seem kinda blank and emotionless. It's best just to stay out of their way and don't draw attention to yourself. If you _do _come under the gaze of a new dragon then . . ."_

"_2 - They have a hard time connecting to the world around them when they first _awake. _It might be hard for them to recognize family and former friends. Don't try to force a connection, especially if you knew then before . . ."_

"_3 - Dragons need claws. Which means give them a knife, or something sharp and pointy. Stubby human fingers don't make very good claws. If they don't have one, they are more twitchy and irritable. Do not advise." _

"_4 - Using logic is the best way to get through to a dragon -"_

Hei _twitched. _Xing had written a guide about how to recognize and get along with _contractors. How_ -

Gently he closed the notebook and handed it back to a wary looking Xing. "So," he commented lightly, "Heavenly Dragon?"

The blush, which had almost faded while he had been reading, painted her face all over again as she squeaked and hid it behind her book. "W-well, uh, Tian_long_? The Heavenly Dragon? You do call lightning from the heavens, so . . ."

Hei sighed and leaned back against the chair backing. If he were still in the syndicate, this would be a _huge _security breach. Like, kill all the witnesses and wipe all associated memories kind of breach. Though, maybe after all of the higher-ups got a good laugh because _seriously? Dragons? _

_Though, if we are being honest, who came up with Contractors?_

But he wasn't with the syndicate. This wasn't a mission. And Xing wasn't talking about contractors. _Technically. _

And, oh yeah, he had a contractor sitting on his couch downstairs. Joy.

He had two choices now. He could either tell Xing the truth. He could tell her what contractors were, what they were capable of, and why she should _definitely stay very far away from them._ This would also mean revealing his time traveling, his past as an assassin, and _her own past_ as a contractor. Or he could just . . . run with it.

Eh, he didn't really want the syndicate to catch wind of him this time. No point in spreading the truth around. A secret held by three is only a secret if two are dead, after all. It's not like she'd believe it anyway.

"Okay," he scrubbed one hand against his face, feeling the lack of stubble and the smooth, unblemished skin of his youth under his finger. "_Okay."_

Xing peaked out from behind her book. "Okay?"

Hei sighed, "Here is what we are going to do. _You _are going to go downstairs and make a pot of tea for our guest. _I _will go have a talk with your . . . friend. Do you understand?"

Xing nodded quickly but didn't move until Hei tilted his head and flicked his eyes toward the door and then back to her. Breaking from her frozen state, Xing jumped up and slipped back out the door, making sure that she was facing him the entire time.

The moment the door shut behind her Hei dropped his head into his hands and groaned.

_She's definitely acting like I did around Bai._

The sad part was that it was actually _working. _

When he'd first come back he'd been twitchy and prone to fits of flashbacks. Xing herself had been one of the major triggers. Several times he'd mistaken Xing for _Bai_ and almost hurt her.

He'd thought he was getting better, though. He thought that the flashbacks weren't being triggered as often.

_But that's not really true, is it?_

Hei sighed. At some point, Xing must have _noticed_ his odd behavior and started . . . adjusting. She must have picked up habits that made her seem smaller, less of a threat, less like _Bai. _And it had worked. He hadn't mistaken her for her contractor self in _weeks._

_And I didn't even notice. _

He let out a soft, broken laugh, too soft to hear anywhere but the room. Then he tilted back and sucked in a deep breath, centering himself once again.

_Humans were so _adaptable.

"Okay," he grunted, pulling himself back together piece by piece. Now was _not_ the time to panic. Right now he had to be Hei, not Tian. "Okay."

He stood and brushed off his coat, silently noting that he'd never taken it off. _Good. _It would be a good intimidation factor. He almost wished for his mask. _Almost. _But that had been lost to time, so he would have to do.

"Let's get this over with."

0~o~0

The moment that the door to the kitchen clicked shut Xing collapsed against the wall and slid down the side until the back of her legs touched the cold tile. With a groan she let her head thump against the wall, eyes blank.

"_That," _she muttered, "Has to be the most terrifying moment of my _life."_

Tian must have been really thrown off about the whole thing too, because he'd forgotten that she wasn't tall enough to grab the teapot yet. Nor was she allowed to use the burner without their parents permission.

Eh, he'd figure it out. Eventually. She just . . . needed a moment to herself. Yeah, that's what she needed. Just a moment and everything would go back to normal -

Xing groaned.

_How did I ever think that this would all turn out _fine?

**0~o~0**

**I think I am going to cut this off there. The scene with Min Su and Hei is in the next chapter, but that is going to be another long, drawn out confrontation so . . . yeah. Next chapter. I am currently writing it, so it should be out soon, actually! If you liked the chapter, please let me know! I love to hear all of your thoughts about where you think this is going to go because I have a plan (for once) and I want to see if anyone can guess what is going to happen next!**

**Oh, I also started a Webtoon. I can't guarantee that it's any good because I am still figuring out how to lay things out, and **_**drawing **_**expressions is much harder than simply **_**explaining**_ **in writing. If anyone wants to check it out, I would love the feedback! You don't have to if you don't want to, though. Not like I will ever know. ;) You can find it if you google A Monster's Secret Dream on Webtoons. My pen name over there is simply Goldenbrook.**

**Anyway, I hope that you all liked the chapter and I look forward to hearing what you think!**

**(Updated 4/17/2020)**


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